When a computer user attempts to locate or access a document in a conventional application, the user may issue a file-open command. The file-open command causes a dialog to be displayed in which the user can enter a file name or a path into a text box, which the application uses to locate the document. The text-box entry is typically limited to a short text string, which must match a file name or path exactly, either in whole or in part. For example, if the user enters “*budget*” (in this example, the asterisk represents a wildcard) in the text-entry box, the file name or path must include the term “budget” somewhere in the file name or path. A file or path including the term “financial” or the term “accounting” would not be found although a file that contained those terms may be relevant to what the user is seeking. The user may also have access to a find dialog, allowing the user to search on additional attributes of a file, such as the text in the file.
Some conventional document management systems provide additional flexibility. For example, Hummingbird's DOCS Open® (Hummingbird Ltd.; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; www.hummingbird.com) can be integrated into a user's desktop applications. When the user attempts to open or save a file, a DOCS Open® interface is displayed. The user is able to enter text into any one of a number of attributes for a document in order to search for the document.